A Willing Wife. Jackie Merritt
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Travis ran in with his ball, and he and Cruz went outside. Rosita, Maggie and Savannah walked into the kitchen, and Savannah said, “My goodness, it smells wonderful in here.”
“Maggie’s been cooking all day,” Rosita said proudly. “We are going to have a fine dinner.”
“Well, I had nothing better to do,” Maggie said, even though she was very pleased with her mother’s praise. “Savannah, sit anywhere. There are only a few things left to do before everything will be ready.”
“I’d be glad to help,” Savannah said.
“Maggie has almost everything ready. You just sit down and relax,” Rosita said firmly.
Maggie heard the sound of approaching vehicles, and winced. One was her father’s truck and the other could only be Dallas’s. Her nerves began jumping around, and it took effort to look unconcerned.
She hadn’t said a word to her mother about inviting Dallas to a family get-together, even though her stomach had not stopped churning with nervous anticipation all day. This was, after all, her parents’ home, and they could invite whomever they wished to dinner, whenever they wished.
But neither had Rosita mentioned it, and Maggie suspected that her mother knew full well that her daughter wasn’t thrilled with having to deal with Dallas Fortune tonight. Maggie looked at the whole thing as interference, plain and simple, but she suspected that her mother was tickled pink over her own inventiveness.
Ruben came into the house, then the kitchen. He greeted Maggie and Savannah and kissed his wife’s cheek, then headed for the bathroom for his usual after-work shower. Wondering about Dallas, Maggie glanced out the window and saw that he had joined Cruz and Travis in their game of catch.
A dozen things flashed through her mind: He was tall and handsome. He was manly and sexy. He moved gracefully, catching and tossing the ball with enviable ease. He smiled a lot. He seemed to be enjoying himself.
Her throat suddenly dry, Maggie moved away from the window. Travis was reveling in both Cruz’s and Dallas’s attention, and everyone would think she had totally lost her senses if she ran outside, grabbed her son and hid him in his bedroom. But that was what she wanted to do. Not because of Cruz—Cruz was family—but because Dallas just kept burrowing his way deeper into her son’s affections. And nothing could ever come of it, other than heartache that Travis was not old enough to comprehend.
If only she could take Travis and leave the ranch, Maggie thought with a sudden passionate wish to be away from Dallas’s influence. She’d considered sending her résumé to Houston banks, and maybe it was time she did that. It would be great if she had the money to move to Houston even without a job, but it just wasn’t possible now. Yes, she would mail out résumés tomorrow.
“Maggie, this salad looks delicious,” Rosita said.
“What? Oh, thank you, Mama.” Maggie came back to earth with genuine hope in her heart. Surely one of Houston’s many banks would hire her.
“Well, everything’s ready,” Rosita declared. “Where’s Ruben?” She left the kitchen, calling, “Ruben, dinner is ready! What’s taking you so long?”
Savannah got up. “Shall I tell the others?”
“Yes, please do,” Maggie replied. Alone in the kitchen, she took long, deep breaths. Somehow she had to appear calm and nonplussed during dinner. She could not let Dallas or her family know how she felt about Dallas’s presence at the Perez table.
She had to make the best of things. She really had no choice.
Frustrated because she could not fall asleep, Maggie glanced at the lighted face of the bed stand clock: 11:20 p.m. The house was silent. Everyone else was sound asleep. Obviously she was still keyed up over the evening, too tense to relax. Annoyed with herself, Maggie threw back the covers and got up; she had rolled and tossed long enough. Maybe a breath of fresh air would settle her nerves.
She slipped out of her nightgown and, simply because they were handy, pulled on the same skirt and blouse she’d worn for dinner. Finger-combing her hair back from her face, Maggie tiptoed through the house and took a jacket from the foyer closet. Opening the front door as quietly as she could, she stepped out onto the porch. The cool night air was wonderful on her face, and she breathed deeply.
Cautiously pulling the door closed behind her, she saw the huge full moon that seemed to be hanging directly over the Double Crown Ranch. It brightened the earth, almost turning night into day. This was one of those incredibly beautiful Texas nights that she remembered from her youth.
Her mood changed instantly. Smiling to herself, Maggie tiptoed across the porch to the stairs. On the ground, she walked normally, and decided a stroll in the moonlight was exactly what she needed. She left the Perez yard and then stopped to think about direction. She knew the ranch’s layout almost as well as she did the arrangement of the house she’d grown up in.
Recognizing an unusual sense of daring within herself, she decided that the open fields held little appeal. She would hike around the buildings and maybe take a moonlit look at Ryan Fortune’s imposing home.
The hike itself was exhilarating. Everything was so still and quiet, just lovely in the bright moonlight. And Maggie felt quite alone and free to wander wherever she wished. During the day she would not be this bold because there was always someone around—ranch hands doing their jobs, in particular. And, of course, there was always the chance of running into one of the Fortunes. Not that she’d ever been on bad terms with the family. In fact, as a child she had sometimes played with the twins, Vanessa and Victoria, who were only a year younger than herself. Dallas, she recalled, was a year older than she was and had occasionally showed up during play times to tease her and his sisters. Typical kid stuff, Maggie thought with a rather nostalgic sigh. Truth was, growing up on this ranch had been pretty darn great. It certainly beat the way Travis had been raised thus far.
And would she be able to do any better in the future? Houston and Phoenix were both large cities. Travis would have to go to school and have after-school care while she worked in Houston. The one advantage she would have in Texas is that she would be able to bring Travis to the ranch on weekends and holidays to see his grandparents.
It was one thing she’d thought of before leaving Phoenix and coming home. But now, with Dallas hovering over her son the way he’d been doing, she probably should rethink that idea. But, dammit, why should she have to alter her plans because of Dallas Fortune? Why didn’t that man mind his own business and leave her and Travis alone?
Maggie heaved a sigh. She couldn’t say that Dallas in any way had impeded the Perez family’s enjoyment of her excellent dinner and of being together. He’d laughed when everyone else had about some silly comment or joke, and he’d appeared relaxed and at ease throughout the evening. Oh, she’d caught him looking at her with those eyes of his more than once, but he’d said nothing offensive or even suggestive to her, certainly nothing that should rile her.
And yet he had riled her, just by being there. If the man had one ounce of common decency, he would have refused her mother’s dinner invitation. He had to have known that his presence would annoy Maggie. He had to have known he was a thorn in her side—he wasn’t stupid!
“Oh, well,” she said with another sigh.
She suddenly slowed her steps. Just ahead of her was a house— Dallas’s house, the one he’d had constructed after his marriage. Until now she’d had no interest in this home. For the most part Dallas had been away and there’d been no reason to even go near his house.
Maggie eyed it for a few moments, making out its low-slung style, noting its dark windows. Unlike his father’s home, Dallas’s place had no yard lights. Of course there could be dozens of outside fixtures and Dallas simply hadn’t turned them on, Maggie realized. It struck her then that his house looked lonely, even a bit ghostly in the moonlight. Was he a lonely man? Did her mother’s opinion regarding Dallas’s long mourning period have some validity?
But